Mitch Bainwol has been the chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 (RIAA) since 2003, succeeding Hilary Rosen

Hilary Rosen

Hilary Beth Rosen is a partner in the political communications firm, SKDKnickerbocker with offices in DC and New York. Prior to joining SKDK, she was the managing partner of the DC office of the Brunswick Group, a London based PR and communications strategy firm. She joined Brunswick in...

. Prior to filling this position, he worked for 25 years in politics and federal policy-making. He and his wife Susan are parents of three children.

Early life and education

Bainwol was born in 1959 in Munich. He spent his childhood in Germany, Thailand, the Canal Zone and Maryland before graduating from Frankfurt American High School. Bainwol studied as an undergraduate at Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

 and received an MBA from Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

.

Career

After his studies, Bainwol became a member of staff for various Republican political figures from 1977 until 2003 (Robin Beard

Robin Beard

Robin Leo Beard, Jr. was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee who served from 1973 to 1983.-Early life:...

, Connie Mack

Connie Mack III

Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy III , popularly known as Connie Mack, is a former Republican politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and then as a Senator from 1989 to 2001. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican...

, Bill Frist

Bill Frist

William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...

 and the RNC

Republican National Committee

The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...

) before founding the Bainwol Group, a Washington, D.C. based lobby group. More specifically, he served as a Congressional staff intern to Robin Beard, an employee of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, a Congressional Staff Chief to Senator Connie Mack, a Congressional Staff Senate Leadership Staff Director, a member of the Republican National Committee, a consultant for Clark and Weinstock, a Congressional Staff Executive Director for the National Republican Senate Committee, and a Congressional Staff Chief of Staff to Senator Frist. In 2003 he joined the RIAA as its CEO, succeeding Hilary Rosen. Since then, he has helped the music industry in its fight against piracy and its transition to the digital world. He serves as a member of the Board of the National Fatherhood Initiative, the Leadership Music Foundation and the Bryce Harlow Foundation.

Bainwol's 2008 compensation package at the RIAA was about $2 million, about a third higher than his 2006 salary.